Grate-bar for furnaces.



P'at ented May I3, 19(12.

m. SHERMAN. i GBATE BAR FDR FUHNAGES.

(Application med occ. 1o, 4901.) l

2 Sheets-Sheet l.

(No Model.)

WITNEESE '5 L my MM ATTEIRNEYJ,

No. 699,824. Patented May I3, |902.

M. SHERMAN.

GRATE BAR FDR FURNAGES.

Y (Application led Oct. 10, 1901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

UNTTBD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORRIS SHERMAN, OF CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE.

GRATE-BAR FOR FU RNACES.

SPECEFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 699,824, dated May 13, 1902.

Application filed October 10, 1901. Serial No. 78,265. (No modal.)

1ro all whom zit may concern:

Be it known that I, MORRIS SHERMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chattanooga, in the county of Hamiltonand State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grate-Bars for Furnaces; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to certain new land useful improvements in grate-bars for steam-boiler and other furnaces, and more particularly to hollow grate-bars.

One object of the invention is to provide means for introducing and absolutely controlling an artificial air-draft through the grate-bars, which draft may be increased or diminished at will `and which may also be directed to a predetermined point over the grate-surface.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a hollow blast grate-bar that can be easily and quickly converted into a common open grate-bar without removing the bars from the furnace.

Itis a still further object of the invention to provide a hollow grate-bar that can be readily and quickly cleaned.

The invention has in View further important objects which will hereinafter appear.

Briefly and generally stated, the invention comprises a hollow grate-bar having a movable or dumping bottom and means for directing a current of air into said bar and in mechanism controlled bythe said movable bottom for shutting off the supply of air when the bottom is in its open or dumped position and in opening the air-supply when the bottom is in a closed position.

In order to enable others to make and use my said invention, I will now proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being had for this purpose to the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of a furnace, showing my improved grate applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of one of the grate-bars. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the grate-bars, a portion being broken away to show the air-inlet pipe and controlling-valve therefor. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of one of the dumpingbottoms for the grate-bars. Figs. 7 and Sare transverse sectional views taken through one of the grate-bars, the bottom and valve being shown in different positions. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a rod for simultaneously operating all the bottoms and valves of a'number of grate-bars.

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. l, the reference numeral 1 designates the brickwork of a furnace; 2, the front thereof; 3, the bridge-wall, and 4E a rotary blower for directing a forced air-draft to the hollow gratebars. As the parts just referred to by referencenumerals are all of wellknown construction and as they form no part of the present invention, they need not be here described in detail,

My improved grate-bar comprises a hollow body or trunk 5 of any desired shape in crosssection and is provided with closed sides and ends 6 and 7and an open-work top S. The said body or trunk 5 is provided with a dumpingbottom consisting of a vane 9, having pivots or journals 10 at its opposite ends that are journaled in the ends of the trunk, the front journal terminating in a cranked extension 12, that constitutes the operating member for the bottom. Near the rear end of the bottom or vane 9 is a valve 13, lpreferably circular in form, which. is fixed at right angles to said vane, so as to be moved therewith. The said body or trunk 5 is provided near its rear end with a depending hollow nipple 14, preferably tapering in form, which telescopes into a correspondingly-tapered thimble 15,that extends upward from the air-blast pipe 16, leading from the blower ,which pipe extends through the furnace-wall and lies below the grate-bars, as more clearly shown in Fig. 1. It is to be understood that the air-pipe 16 is provided with as many thimbles 15 as there are hollow grate-bars and that each nipple forms a communication with one of said bars or trunks.

As shown in the drawings,the valve 13 controls the opening through the thimble 15, and said valve may be moved to entirely close said opening, and thus cut off the draft, as shown in Fig. 8, in which case the bottom of the grate-bar will be in its open position, or the IOO valve may be moved to open position,as shown in Fig. 7, and in this case the dumping-bottom will be closed.

In the foregoing description I have described in detail only one of the grate-bars; but it will be understood that the grate-surface is composed of a number of such bars arranged side by side. I do not, however, wish to be understood as confining myself to a grate-surface composed entirely of hollow grate bars such as herein described and shown, for it will be obvious that I may construct a grate-surface wherein some of the bars will be constructed according to this invention and others of the usual constructionas, for instance, the ordinary solid or open bar.

In order to simultaneously operate the bottoms and valves of a number of grate-bars, I have provided the means shown in Figs. l and 9, which consists of a rod 17, having handles I8 at its opposite ends, said rod being provided with a number of openings 19, through each of which one of the cranks 12 is passed. It will thus be understood that the rod 17 may be caused to engage all the cranks 12 of a group of grate-bar bottoms, and by moving the said rod 17 in one direction or the other said bottoms and valves may be opened or closed simultaneously, as desired. It will also be obvious that the cranks may be operated independently by hand, and by this means the forced draft may be cut olf from some of the grate-bars and allowed to pass through the others. In this manner the artificial draft may be absolutely controlledthat is, increased or diminished at will-and may also be directed to any particular part of the grate-surface.

By constructing a grate-bar with a movable or dumping bottom it will be seen that the same may be easily and quickly cleaned of ashes and cinders and may also be converted into an ordinary open grate.

I do not limit myself to the exact details of construction herein shownand described, but reserve to myself the right to all modifications of the invention coming Within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of hollow grate-bars provided with pivoted bottoms, a forced-draft air-pipe, conduits providing communication between the grate-bars and the forced-draft air-pipe, a damper in each of Ysaid conduits, said dampers being operatively connected with said pivoted bottoms, substantially as described.

2. A hollow'grate-bar comprising closed side and end walls, an open-work top and a pivoted bottom, and a valve attached to said A 3. A furnace-grate comprising a plurality of hollow grate-bars each provided with a dumping-bottom, a forced-draft air-pipe, conduits providing communication between the grate-bars and the forced-draft air-pipe, and a damper secured to and arranged at a right angle to each dumping-bottom, said dampers controlling the passage of air through the conduits, substantially as described.

4t. A hollow grate-bar having an air-inlet opening anda dumping-bottom, a valve for said air-inlet opening, and means for simultaneously opening the bottom and closing the valve of the air-inlet opening.

5. A hollow grate-bar having a dumpingbottom and an air-inlet opening, a valve for said air-inlet opening, and means for simultaneously closing the bottom and opening the air-inlet valve.

6. A hollow grate-bar having a dumpingbottom and an air-inlet opening, a valve for said air-inlet opening, and means controlled by the position of said bottom for regulating the arca of the air-inlet opening.

7. A hollow grate-bar having a pivoted bottom and an air-inlet opening, and a valve attached to said bottom and controlling said air-inletopening.

S. A furnace-grate comprising a plurality of hollow grate-bars, each of said bars being provided with a dumping-bottom and an airinlet opening, a forced-draft air-pipe communicating with said air-inlet openings, and a separate valve for each of said openings, said valves being attached to said bottoms.

9. A furnace-grate comprising a plurality of hollow grate-bars, each of said bars being provided with a dumping-bottom and an airinlet opening, a forced-draft air-pipe communicating with said openings, and a separate valve for each of said openings operable from said bottoms.

10. A furnace-grate comprising a plurality of hollow grate-bars Aeach having a pivoted bottom and an air-inlet opening, means for forcing an artificial draft through said openings into the grate-bars, and valves for each of said openings attached to and operable from said pivoted bottoms.

In testimony whereofv I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MORRIS SHERMAN.

Witnesses:

HORACE H. PEEK, JOHN F. ALEXANDER.

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